This piece is accompanied by a certificate issued by Mr. Christian Aguilar confirming the authenticity of this lot.

Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner

Literature: Ramon N. Villegas & Lisa Guerrero Nakpil, TWO NAVELS: LEON CURATED AUCTION, Leon Gallery, Makati City, 2016, p. 42-45 and p. 46-47 (illustrated)

ABOUT THE WORK

Alcuaz’ art contains elements of both Filipino and Western painting traditions that merge to make singularly intimate works. At the core of his art is modernism’s freedom and a freshness of spirit that immediately draws one into his vision of the world. It was Alcuaz’ long stay in Europe, artistically and experientially, that made the difference between him and the other Filipino abstractionists of his generation. Alcuaz was steeped in the artistic values of Europe, where he took root. In contrast, the influence to Joya’s art was primarily American in the New York School of Abstract Expressionism and Pollock’s gestural painting. But Alcuaz in Europe immersed himself in the interwar School of Paris, with its rich multiplicity of styles. Alcuaz has drawn inspiration from a wide variety of sources, from his early years in the Philippines to his long stay in Europe, resulting in an art that is universal in its nature. Alcuaz wields a powerful brush. Often in Alcuaz’ work there is this sense that we are looking at the tempestuous aesthetics and hedonism of Spain and the rest of Europe, the viewer can imagine that as the artist executed his strokes and applied his solid colors, there was this sense of serendipity that reveals a kind of “dancing” poetry driven by sheer energy. Alcuaz painted rapidly, a stirring of imagination that communicates to the viewer a pleasurable emotion. This abstraction has a sense of high drama and intensity about it that is not found in his more formal, figurative works, such as the “Tres Marias” series. While his abstractions are tense and tempestuous, his Tres Marias are calm, sonorous, and even philosophical.